United States approves largest ever arms sale to Taiwan

Today's headlines: Netanyahu announces agreement on gas supply to Egypt; UN and NGOs in Gaza oppose “arbitrary” Israeli registration procedure; In South Korea, with mothers giving birth at an increasingly advanced age, multiple pregnancies are on the rise, raising concerns for the health of mothers and newborns; Four Indonesian activists charged for late summer riots. Nepal launches five-year plan against waste in the Himalayas.

TAIWAN - UNITED STATES

The United States has approved the sale of .1 billion worth of arms to Taiwan: the largest arms package ever sold by the United States to the island, which is under increasing military pressure from China. The announcement of the arms sale to Taiwan is the second under the current Trump administration and comes as Beijing intensifies military and diplomatic pressure against Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing's claims of sovereignty.

ISRAEL-EGYPT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a billion gas deal with Egypt, as the United States pushes for a summit between the leaders of the two countries. In a televised statement, Netanyahu called the deal ‘the largest in Israel's history.’ He said the agreement is worth 112 billion shekels (about .6 billion). The agreement involves the American energy company Chevron and provides for the supply of gas to Egypt.

GAZA

The UN and NGOs have warned that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza, are in danger of failing if Israel does not remove obstacles that include a ‘vague, arbitrary and highly politicised’ registration procedure. Dozens of international NGOs risk being removed from the register by 31 December. Meanwhile, the IDF has launched a mortar strike on a Palestinian residential area in the Gaza Strip, causing at least 10 injuries; this is the latest act to shake the fragile ceasefire with Hamas. Palestinian health officials report more than 370 deaths from Israeli fire since the truce began.

SOUTH KOREA

With the increase in the number of twin births and multiple pregnancies in South Korea, a study calls for government measures to protect the health of mothers and newborns. Multifetal pregnancies increase the risk of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. The report by the South Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs says that the rate of multiple births in Korea is second only to Greece. The increase is due to delayed childbirth, with the average age of 33.7 in 2024.

INDONESIA

Prosecutors from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) have charged four activists arrested after the August riots, accusing them of spreading content on social media deemed to incite hostility towards the government and encourage students to participate in the riots. The four are Delpedro Marhaen, director of the Lokataru human rights foundation, Muzaffar Salim, a staff member of the same foundation, Syahdan Husein, an online activist with the Gejayan Memanggil student movement, and Khariq Anhar, a student at the University of Riau.

NEPAL

Nepal has launched a five-year plan to tackle the problem of waste in the Himalayas, including the Mount Everest area. The main components of the new plan are stricter waste management, the elimination of the deposit system and the use of new technologies, including drones, to extract waste. Among the measures proposed is a cap on the number of climbers allowed each season, a proposal strongly contested by local tour operators.

GEORGIA

A senior prelate of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Dorofej (Kurašvili), serving at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the capital Tbilisi, has been suspended a divinis by Patriarch Ilja II for supporting and participating in street protests against the government, “repeatedly violating ecclesiastical rules of canonical ethics, despite repeated warnings, based on apostolic rules” prohibiting “offence to the authorities”.

RUSSIA

Following Vladimir Putin's promises to extend human life to 150 years, scholars from three specialised centres in Russia have committed themselves to finding solutions to “extend old age” by measuring the biological age of people and their internal organs, at the “Pirogov” Medical Research Institute for brain ageing, at the “Petrovsky” Surgery Institute for “biological growth hours” and at the “Belozersky” Physical-Chemical Institute for “autophagy mechanisms”.

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